Tell Me A Secret
by JenniferLaMontagne
Summary: Requested one-shot. Includes Emily and JJ's interrogation of Malcolm Ford in 'The Company'. Something he says makes JJ think about her life with Will...


**A/N: This one-shot was requested by 'jjwillbabystar' to do a take on Malcolm's interrogation in 7x20 'The Company' and I thought it was a genius idea, so thank you for the idea! And if anyone else has an idea, please do not hesitate to suggest it!I hope you like this and don't forget to leave a comment, I value everyone's feedback so much.**

**Also, I'm in love with Hunter Hayes'song 'Wanted'. Check it out :)**

* * *

"_So then I get home and, of course, he's still up past his bedtime."_ JJ drawled as he entered the interrogation room with Emily, and taking a seat across from their suspect, Malcolm Ford.

"Uh. Ohh. It reminds me why I'm not married.", Emily exhales as she sits down in the metal chair.

"Oh, well, neither am I, technically.", JJ reminds her, crossing her legs.

Emily laughs and clicks her fingers, "Oh, yeah, you're right. That's true.", she smiles as she flicks her hair from out of her face, "Do you guys ever–"

JJ's eyebrows knitted together, and she scoffed, ending her sentence in a laugh, "Oh. No, I really don't need a man to tell me what to do."

Emily agreed, amused at the conversation.

Just then, the suspect spoke for the first time since the two female agents had entered the room, "Excuse me."

JJ, as if only realising that he was there, turned and raised a finger towards him and pressing it against her lips, as if berating a small child,

"Shh…Uh, the adults are talking.", she gestured in the air between Emily and herself, "When it's your turn to speak, I'll give you permission. Ok?", JJ gave Ford a small smile, tapping the table before turning her attention back to Emily,

"So, anyway…"

"Yeah. Any sleep?", Emily asked about Henry, JJ's three year old.

JJ laughed, "Uh, no. Of course not!"

Emily cleared her throat, and opened the case file she had in front of her, shaking her head in confusion, "What are we doing here anyway?", she asked, flipping through the photos.

JJ glanced at the file, and clicked her fingers, breathing, "Right", before turning back to face Mal…"

"Oh, ok. So, yeah…Mal, you want to confess now or just go straight to prison?", Emily asked in a bored voice, stretching her arms together across the table.

Ford smiled, "Look, my wife and I had a disagreement in that store-"

JJ frowned and held up her hand, "Whoa–wife?"

"You're married?", Emily asked, confused, "No. This is about…", she looks down at the file, "John Hitchens? His suicide is looking more like a murder and the gun traces back to you."

Ford stared at the two women, tilting his head to the side.

JJ shrugged and moved her hands off the table, turning to get out of her chair,

"Ok. Uh, let's go talk to this wife."

Emily murmured, "He's not talking", as she too stood up, closing the open file.

Ford's voice caused JJ and Emily to turn around to look at him,

"I don't know who this Hitchens person is, but if you had anything, you'd charge me already. You're here because of Cindi…"

JJ sent him a sheepish glance, and Emily gave a small laugh, shrugging one of her shoulders,

"Caught us."

They sat back down, Emily throwing the bundle of papers back on to the table.

"You know what? This is my favorite part", JJ informed the man, lowering herself back into her chair,

"This is where you hang yourself with your own tongue…So, please, keep talking…", she grinned, leaning towards him.

Ford stared at her for a split-second, before his face creased into lines,

"What are you doing here?," his attention directed towards JJ,

The emotion-less mask that JJ had put on her face, flickered slightly,

"You got a baby at home being raised by a man you're not married to.," Ford continued, asking again, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it's work.," JJ rolled her eyes, wondering why she was even bothering to explain herself,

"But we make it work….Where's Cindi?," she asked, trying to get the man to move on from the topic of her own life.

Malcolm gave a small, cold laugh, "Huh. Work. I know all about work. Negotiating who does the dishes, fighting over who folds the laundry. Except Cindi and I never fight.", he explains simply.

"She knows her role."

JJ raised her eyebrows as Emily cut in,

"After you beat her into signing a contract."

"What we have is a bond you know nothing about. But I'll tell you about it," He turned his head towards JJ, his eyes boring into hers,

"If you ask permission."

A small smile crept over JJ's lips, and an amused 'huh' escaped from her throat.

Emily laughed, "Come on.", she said, getting up once more, making it to the door before realising that JJ was still seated, and looking at the suspect.

Malcolm laughed, "You're curious, aren't you?", he asked the blonde,

"You want to know our secret."

JJ smirked and stood up, hitting the table lightly as she rose, and followed Emily out of the room.

* * *

Later, as Emily was slapping handcuffs on to Malcolm's wrists,

"Malcolm Ford, you're under arrest for kidnapping, child endangerment, and the murder of John Hitchens…",

JJ walked over to the man, shining her torch on the ground so they could make their way to the squad car. She placed her hand on Ford's back,

"So, um…Can you tell me that secret now?"

* * *

As she made the drive home from the FBI Headquarters, very early the next morning- the sun was beginning to show itself across the sky, Malcolm Ford's words echoed around JJ's head,

"_What are you doing here? You got a baby at home being raised by a man you're not married to."_

JJ gripped the steering wheel tight as she stopped at a red light, searching for the answer for that question in her head.

Yeah, Will stayed at home during the day to mind Henry while JJ worked, it was pretty hard for both of them to work full-time, although Will had mentioned possibly joining the patrol in the DC area. It had been Will's choice to leave the police force in New Orleans, once she had gotten pregnant he had practically given up his life and moved wherever she was, just so she wouldn't have to quit her job at the BAU. She knew she had never really thanked him for that.

She made a decision as she was driving, she was going to tell him to go for that job, that they could figure something out with Henry, the woman next door minded kids for a living, and one more wouldn't hurt. She would try to get home earlier to see Henry on days where they didn't have cases.

She knew she had missed out on a lot of Henry's life because of her work. She had missed the first time he had said 'Mama', his first steps, and the first time he had kicked a soccer ball. Sure, her tight had tightened with pride and tears had welled up in her eyes as she had watched the many videos that Will had sent to her cell just moments after all those firsts, but it wasn't the same as _being_ there, with them both.

"_..A man you're not married to."_

Those words repeated and repeated in her head, over and over.

She wasn't married to Will, they weren't even engaged, although, she thought, not for lack of trying on Will's part. She began to think of the times he had asked her to be his wife,

There was the time she had visited him in New Orleans, six months after they had first met, when Will had suddenly sat up in bed one night, and declared his love for her, telling her that one day, she would be his wife.

The next time, was after she told him she was pregnant with Henry. He had pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, his breath skimming the top of her head as he whispered that they were going to be a proper family, before dropping to one knee and asking her on the spot, to marry him.

Then there was the day that Henry had been born, after all her visitors had left the hospital, Will had slipped the engagement ring into Henry's tiny little palm for JJ to see when she picked him up to feed him.

The last time, had been after the case on Valentine's Day, when JJ had returned home after a fight with the UnSub, bruised and cut, and Will had demanded to know over their Chinese order-in meal, why she refused to wear his ring and show everyone how much she meant to him.

She had just shrugged all those times, and told him that they weren't ready, and she didn't feel as if she needed to be his wife just so they could be a proper family. To her, a gold band and a piece of paper given to them by the State of Virginia and the District of Columbia meant nothing, she loved him, and he loved her and that's all that really mattered.

As she neared her home, a thought struck her.

What if, because she had denied his request all those times, Will somehow thought she wasn't committed to their relationship, and that she didn't love him…

And of _course_ she loved him. He was Henry's dad, he was the first man that she had ever gotten intimate with that hadn't used her and had left. She loved him so much that most of the time, she could hardly believe that he had actually chosen her, Jennifer Jareau from some small town in Pennsylvania, to have his child and spend the rest of his life with.

I guess, she thought as she pulled up outside her house, she didn't want to marry him because, if she said yes, and married him and then one day, he decided that after all, he didn't love her as he used to, and wanted to leave, that would rip her heart right out and going through a divorce would probably kill her.

She wanted to stop herself from getting hurt, even though she had opened her heart to him all those years ago, on that case in Miami, she was still wary of anything that would shake the façade she had created, and she knew she could handle a boyfriend leaving, _that_ had happened before, but a _husband_ leaving…she wouldn't be able to do it.

JJ smiled as she glanced up at the windows of the house as she got out of her car, the sun had fully risen now and was glinting off the upstairs windows. She saw the curtain in their bedroom twitch, and she knew that he had waited up for her to come back to him.

She shook her head as she dug her key into her front door and made her way up the stairs to the man that had waited all night to hold her, that Malcolm Ford didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

What was she doing here?

She was home, with the man she loved and the little boy that made her glad to be alive every single day. She was happy with the way things were, and as far as she was concerned, that's the way they were gonna stay.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**[[NOTE FOR AJ COOK FANS: My AJ Twitter fanpage DoItLikeAJ, is running a Birthday Book for AJ's birthday on the 22nd of this month, where fans can E-Mail me letters and photos, or anything really, that you would like me to put in the book that I will be sending to the lady herself at the end of this month, just mail me on this if you want to contribute!]]**


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